Note:  I wrote this May 13th and am just now publishing it. 

Its May 13^th 2014, three months since I was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism.  Today I ran 5 miles at 11:26 pace, just a nice beautiful spring day jog.   Two weeks ago I ran a 4-mile race, an event I signed up for the event in January.  I did alright!  My pace was 10:43, which wasn't my 9:00 pace from last fall, but not bad for only training about 15 miles in the month leading up to it.

On the internet I found some support groups for PE survivors, but quickly realized they were full of people complaining and not accepting this and moving on.  They are not joyful to be alive.

I got in the pool 7 days after being released from the hospital.  I found safe haven in the pool.  It is a therapy for me.  Honestly I didn't feel any limitations in the pool when I started back.  A few times I got light headed so I stopped.  That went away fairly quickly, but I always listened to my body.  If my body was tired I didn't exercise.  If I was working out and something hurt or didn't feel right I stopped.  It’s as simple as that.  Life is how you accept what has been given to you and your reaction to it.

Biking took a little longer because of my leg.  Ruby (my road bike) has been out 3-4 times now and I've been on the stationary some.  I feel fine and while I am not in very good cardiovascular condition I feel I could get there with some work. 

Running took longer, 2 months.   My leg would feel heavy like I was swinging a weight, and after 30 seconds it would affect my gait and I’d have to stop.  Mid-April I started running again and while my leg felt a little different, it didn't hurt and I felt the running was helping the healing process.   This whole time I've felt that exercising has accelerated the healing process.  The more oxygen I pump through my lungs the quicker they fix themselves.   I still feel damage in my right lung.  My left lung feels normal but my right lung is different, and the more I tax it the more I feel it.  It doesn't hurt, just feels like I am stretching it or its heavy.

My body and blood stabilized after being on Coumadin after about a month.  I’m down to getting my blood tested monthly.  I take 63mg a week, unless I eat a lot of vitamin-K then I increase it.   I've heard a lot of negative side effects of Coumadin and I've chosen to just take the medicine and not think of about it.  One side effect is lack of energy or sleepiness.  I take it at night before bed so it doesn't matter.  I wake up refreshed.

I found a group on Facebook and a guy’s blog.  It’s called “Running after a PE”  That group has given me so much confidence.  After chatting with my triathlete friend who had a PE 7 years ago and also looking at this website, I've learned that this is common in endurance athletes.   Not “common” like every 1-of-10 athletes is going to get it, but a higher incidence of the general population.  There are a couple of theories about this, but the medical profession doesn't really know about this and that they need to watch endurance athletes for this.  Two thoughts are:  1) We get dehydrated so our blood is thicker, and 2) resting heart rates are lower so the blood doesn't moves as fast.

It’s amazing to hear people’s stories.   I’m not talking about one itty bitty insignificant blood clot getting to your lungs, I’m talking about multiple bilateral PE like I had. 

As I looked back over this, I never feared for my life.  Maybe I should have.  Sometimes I think it’s like recovering  from a cold and I don’t need to worry about it.  But I do need to worry about it.  Donny & Riley make sure I worry about it.  They are constantly watching my bruises, bumps, and anything that might show up on my skin. 

I feel healthy.  I've only seen my general practitioner.  I think about seeing a pulmonologist because I want to know how much damage there is and what my prognosis is?   But on the other hand I don’t want to know because that might tell my mind I can’t do something, and right now my mind thinks I can do anything.  And we are all alive to live life and not to worry about things.  I want to celebrate life. 

My doctor says I need to wait 6 months to see a hematologist but I want to go now.  I want someone to agree that they need to take this filter out of me.  It’s a risk.  I do risky things, not like tackle football, but things that put pressure on my abdomen.   The risks of having the filter are greater than not having it in.    If I take it out I risk of having another PE.    If I leave it in it could dislodge and travel to my heart and lungs.  Or it could break the vein and I have horrible internal bleeding.   I noticed on a FDA website it is recommended that you take it out as soon as possible.  Once the embolism risk is gone the filter should be removed, because  the body can start accepting it and growing over it and the longer it is in there the riskier it is to take it out. 

I’m still trying to figure out why I let them put it in.  They are for people who can’t take blood thinners and my body is responding nicely to thinners.   Or for people who are in immediate danger of death, and I don’t feel I was ever there, but apparently the medical staff did.

Celebrate life.